


Piglets Don't Hum Hums

by sinkauli



Category: Winnie-the-Pooh - A. A. Milne
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinkauli/pseuds/sinkauli
Summary: Piglet wakes up with a Hum in his head. He wants to ask Pooh for advice, but Adventure comes literally between them.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 41
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Piglets Don't Hum Hums

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Natmonkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natmonkey/gifts).



Piglet woke up with a Hum in his head. He got up and ate a breakfast of haycorns and had a drink of water, but didn't notice the taste (in so far as water has a taste) because the Hum was still there. He tried to hum it the way Pooh did, but his voice didn't seem to work that way, so he hummed it in his head.

> Pooh's a Bear and I'm a Pig,  
>  He is small and I am big.

"No, that's the other way round," he said, " _He_ is big and _I_ am small. Comes from not humming aloud, I suppose."

Piglet got more and more annoyed, and then he made a Decision. "I'll go to see Pooh and ask him what to do."

But that was almost another Hum!

> I'll go to see Pooh  
>  And ask him what to do.

"Annoying. But I'll do that. It seems the best thing. Piglets don't hum Hums. Poohs do."

He set out towards Pooh's house. When he passed the thistle patch, Eeyore was there, thoughtfully munching thistles. Piglet's head was still so full of the Hum (and the other Hum) that he passed Eeyore without a greeting.

"Morning," Eeyore said, startling Piglet out of his thoughts. "I say, morning."

"Well, yes?"

"I say, morning. I won't say 'good morning' because it's not a particularly _good_ morning."

"No, it isn't," Piglet said. "I have a Hum stuck in my head. I'm on my way to Pooh so he can deal with it."

"Hm," said Eeyore. "Or rather, hum."

"You're no help at all!"

"State of the world. I'm no help at all. Nothing new." And he went on munching thistles as if there was no Piglet in the world.

But there was a Piglet in the world, and that Piglet still had the Hum in his head.

> Pooh's a Bear and I'm a Pig,  
>  I am small and he is big.  
>  I'm a Pig and Pooh's a Bear,  
>  I am here and he is there.  
>  I'm now going to see Pooh,  
>  He can tell me what to do.

"But can he? Piglets don't hum Hums. They never have. I'd be surprised if my grandfather Trespassers W--"

He never finished saying what his grandfather Trespassers W would or would not have done, for he bumped into a wall.

There was not supposed to be a wall on the way to Pooh's house. A very strange wall too, made of thick red-and-white-striped cloth. It was a whole house made of red-and-white-striped cloth. A very large house. It must be a house for a Very Large Animal, Piglet thought. There was probably enough room inside for three Kangas and two Eeyores and then the three Kangas' three Roos would still easily fit in as well.

He had to go around the house, or at least half of it, to go on to Pooh. While he was doing that he heard a Very Large Shuffling coming from the house. He ran as no Piglet had ever run before.

"Pooh!" he called even before he could see his friend's front door. "Pooh! There's a Thing!"

"A Thing," said Pooh, coming out of his house with an empty honey-pot in his hand. "What kind of a Thing? Is it an Interesting Thing? A Dangerous Thing? An Edible Thing?"

"A house," Piglet panted. "In the middle of the path! It's red and white and there's a Very Large Shuffling inside."

"We should go and Investigate," Pooh said, and put the honey-pot down. Piglet felt a lot braver with his friend at his side, so he kept very close to him as they went to Investigate.

The house was still there. It was still red-and-white-striped. There was still a Very Large Shuffling inside, and now also a Muffled Voice.

"I think the best thing we can do is to wait and see what comes out," said Pooh.

"If there's a Very Large Animal inside, it might eat us when it comes out!" Piglet said. "It can eat me in one bite, I'm sure. Perhaps it needs two or three bites for you because you're bigger."

"Perhaps it's a Woozle," Pooh said. "Do you see any Woozle tracks?"

"There aren't any Woozles," Piglet said. "They don't exist. Christopher Robin says so."

"What do I say?" said the voice of Christopher Robin. He was standing in an opening in the wall of the house, holding a bit of the red-and-white cloth aside.

"That Woozles don't exist," said Piglet.

"But perhaps Heffalumps do," said Pooh. He'd just remembered that a Heffalump is a Very Large Animal. Which would perhaps fit in the striped house and make a Very Large Shuffling.

Christopher Robin laughed. "Heffalumps exist all right! You can come out now, Gajah, no need to be shy."

Pooh and Piglet hastily took a step backwards. Several steps.

There was more shuffling in the house and a Very Large Animal came out. It was grey all over. It had ears the size of tea-trays. It had legs the size of tree-trunks. It had two pointy white teeth the size of Christopher Robin's arms. It had a nose the size of Kanga's tail. But its tail wasn't even as long or as bushy at the end as Eeyore's.

"Gajah, these are my friends Pooh and Piglet. Pooh, Piglet, meet Gajah, she's a guest, she's staying for a few days. Usually she lives with my cousin. We made her this tent because she's too Large to fit in any of our houses."

Pooh and Piglet came closer, very cautiously.

The Very Large Animal, with the name of Gajah, probably a Heffalump, stuck out her nose in their direction.

"She wants to shake hands," Christopher Robin said, "but she doesn't have any, so she has to use her trunk. That's what the nose of a Heffalump is called."

"Pleased to meet you, Pooh and Piglet," Gajah said in a surprisingly small voice for someone her size. It wasn't clear whether she knew which of them was Pooh and which was Piglet. And the nose felt sort of like a hand because it had a soft end to grip with.

Piglet found his voice first. "Pleased to meet you too."

And then Pooh dared to ask "Are you really a Heffalump?"

"Well." They could see her thinking. "You might say that. Yes. You might."

"Aren't Heffalumps very Fierce and Dangerous?" Pooh asked. He couldn't imagine an animal that was less Fierce and Dangerous than Gajah, though she was still Very Large.

"I'm not, am I?" Gajah asked. "I only want to make friends."

"We'll be your friends!" Piglet said, suddenly full of courage. "And Owl and Eeyore and Kanga and Roo and Rabbit and all of Rabbit's Friends and Relations."

"Splendid," said Christopher Robin. "We'll have such great Adventures together."

They had a lot of great Adventures. Gajah even let the Very Small Animals -- Piglet and Roo and some of Rabbit's Friends and Relations -- ride on her back. Then she had to go home, and they all missed her.

* * *

"Hey, Pooh?" Piglet asked when they were in Pooh's house, missing Gajah.

"Yes?"

"I was on my way to your house to ask you for help because I had a Hum in my head. And then we met the Heffalump and we had all the Adventures and I never asked you for help."

"Well, hum the Hum to me, then!"

"I'm afraid I've forgotten it completely," Piglet said. But Pooh said it didn't matter, and Piglet agreed. After all, Piglets don't hum Hums.

**Author's Note:**

> Gajah is Bahasa Indonesia for "elephant".


End file.
